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My visit to the Balenciaga ExhibitLast week I visited the SPANISH MASTER exhibit at the Sofía Spanish Institute on the upper east side in Manhattan. This was a fabulous exhibit that was hosted in very beautiful and fitting space, occupying all three floors in the Spanish Institute neo-Federal townhouse. exhibit was curated by Hamish Bowles, European Editor at Large. There are a great deal of pieces in the exhibit, including dresses and accessories that represent Balenciaga work from the 1930 through 1960 a new student in Fashion Design, I found one of the most valuable aspects of the exhibit to be the great lengths that the curators went to in order to demonstrate Balenciaga influences and inspirations alongside his actual works and/or sketches. The examples and descriptions of Balenciaga key influences in the context of his finished works provide an interesting perspective on the fashion designer creative process.
The exhibit also includes a screening room on the top floor of the Spanish Institute decorated in the likeness of Balenciaga Paris Couture Salon. On display in the screening room is a 1 hour and 30min loop of footage from showings in Balenciaga salon. The footage is fascinating for the intimate glimpse it gives of the carefully orchestrated private showings of Balenciaga clothes, a striking contrast to the modern day runway show.
Since I was not able to take photographs at the exhibit, I took pictures of the pages of the exhibition catalogue to show the pieces that I liked. All photos in this post were taken from the exhibition catalogue.
The following are some examples showing the juxtaposition of Balenciaga inspirations and influences from various cultural aspects and regions of his native Spain alongside his creations. Following these examples are some pictures of my favorite pieces in the exhibition.
from Religious life in Spain
(above) The painting of Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy by Francisco De Zurbaran next to a Balenciaga coat of wool duvetine from 1950. I feel that some of the most exciting dresses that Balenciaga designed were influenced by the costumes of flamenco and bata dancers. In this photo by Ortiz Echagüe the traje de bata (costume of the bata dancer) provides a very literal influence for the skirt section of Balenciaga evening dress.
from Bullfighting in Spain
(above) photograph of a bullfight in the Maestranza Bullring in Seville Spain show the colors and embellishments that may have inspired this Balenciaga evening ensemble consisting of a romper of black silk charmeuse and bolero of pink silk faille, winter 1960.
Regional Influences
(above) drawing titled "Chevrier Des Environs De Valladolid" by R. De Leon shows the woolen coat style of a Spain provence that may have served as inspiration for Balenciaga cocktail ensemble consisting of a dress of brown cigaline and white mink and a jacket of white mink, winter 1967.
(above) photograph by Ortiz Echagüe, Pais Vasco La Tabera De Orio shows the garb of peasants from the Basque region of Spain. A studio drawing of a day dress of beige wool shows Basque grab influences in the lines and drape, from Balenciaga studio, winter 1967 .
Personal Favorites from the Exhibit
The following two dresses are my personal favorites that were on display in Balenciaga Exhibit.
(above) dress of bronze silk cloque and copper bead embellishment, winter 1966. The detail on this dress shows influences from the dress of the Spanish Royal Court, which was an inspiration for Balenciaga. Given the significant amount of bronze and copper metal on this dress, I can only imagine what a workout it was to wear it. It is too bad that there is no color photo of this dress available, and I was not able to take one in the exhibit, however the cut-out of fabric in this photo gives some hint at the rich bronze/copper color of the dress and the unique oil application process called blackening, that was applied.
(above) evening dress of pink silk moire taffeta, summer 1963. As in the previous picture, the photo here does not do justice to this dress. The extraordinary light and fluffy texture of the dress and pink hues give the impression that the model was wearing soap bubbles. In the exhibit, the hats were placed as part of complete outfits or in groups of similar design/influence, however the same treatment was not done in the exhibit catalogue. Therefore, I have attempted to group some of the more interesting hats along with their influences in this picture.
(above) left to right, "Chignon" hat of black chiffon and pink chiffon with black velvet, 1953. A hat of black and white straw, 1948, showing clear inspiration from the matador hat. A hat of black faille and ostrich feathers with a yellow satin ribbon, 1950. Favorites from the Exhibition [url=http://uscheapweddingdresses.webs.com]cheap wedding dresses[/url]